1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electro-mechanically activated bistable information displays such as may be associated with manual operation. The present disclosure relates more particularly to signage and indicators of status for electrical distribution equipment operated integrally with operation of the equipment.
2. Discussion of the Known Art
In the present art, signage is know to be static, i.e. “printed,” whose meaning herein includes embossed or the like “permanently” without need for electrical power, or it is actively powered and controlled, i.e. electronic display with continuously provided display signal and electrical power. Bistable displays such as the electronic paper displays are known in the art and can hold an image indefinitely with an electrical pulse only needed to change the displayed indicia. Bistable displays are currently known to be utilized with on-board power sources such as batteries or power supplies. Bistable displays are also currently known to be utilized with apparatus such as thumb drives carrying a manually operated power source activated by shaking the thumb drive.
Static signage may suffer from lack of visual clarity, brightness, contrast, color, legibility, etc. as it ages and is further subject to degradation of the printed image by physical forces such as fading, abrasion, erosion, or the like. Movable mechanical signage such as known in the electrical distribution equipment art where an indicia panel moves with the throw of a switch handle into a viewing window cut into the equipment enclosure can suffer from the degradation of mechanical linkage. Opening of the enclosure envelope exposes the inside of the enclosure to environmental forces and the outside of the enclosure, and operators, to electrical forces inside the enclosure. Electrical and electronic displays suffer from the further disadvantage of being relatively expensive and needing a ready external power source which must be supplied, maintained, recharged, or the like.